Governor resorting to unconstitutional activities: Mulayam

He said the Cabinet decision was supreme and the governor could not reject it, reports Masoodul Hasan.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday attacked Governor TV Rajeswar for hampering the special session of the state assembly on January 15.

Addressing a Kurmi rally on Thursday, Yadav said the governor had resorted to "unconstitutional" activities during the last three days. He said the Cabinet decision was supreme and the governor could not reject it.

Quoting legal experts, the chief minister said Raj Bhawan could not block holding of assembly session as summoned by Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey. He said the Congress and BJP had hatched a conspiracy to impose president's rule and also defer the assembly election at least for a year.

Yadav said the Congress, which had no base in UP, had been trying to win the election with the help of the governor. Pointing out that the Congress had not taken any lesson from the drubbing in Bihar where it had tried to take advantage during the Central rule, Yadav said that now the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) had also joined chorus for the president's rule.

He said the RLD, which was the beneficiary of government largesse during the last three years, had now been talking about law and order problem in the state.

He said the UP police had quickly exposed the Nithari serial killings but so far no Congress leader had visited grisly sites in Punjab, Haryana or Andhra Pradesh.

The chief minister said SP general secretary Amar Singh had already distributed financial assistance to affected families in Assam and now Singh would go to Punjab on January 14 to provide relief to the families whose children had been killed. Yadav said the BSP, which had been selling assembly tickets, was not a political party but "an organisation of dishonest people". Yadav said the BJP was back to communally disruptive agenda in the state.

Amar Singh assailed Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for joining hands on UP. He said both leaders had jointly conspired against Yadav. Singh also flayed the RLD for breaking the alliance. Assembly speaker Mata Prasad Pandey said some forces had arrayed against Yadav and hampered social change in the state.

He called upon the Kurmis to remove these hindrances. Veteran party member Beni Prasad Verma, who had called the Kurmi rally, charged the governor with violating the constitutional norms in discharge of his duties. He said the governor had been doing politicking at the behest of the Congress.